Well, sometimes you just have to be on medication for life. I started using prozac in February due to panic attack and anxiety disorder. I was on celexa since 2007 but stupid me decided to come off it cold turkey. The biggest mistake of my life. My panic attacks and anxiety attacks came with a vegeance and when I went back to it, celexa was working anymore. I don't want to be in medication for the rest of my life either but I rather taking it than feeling sick all the time. Why suffer when we don't have to right? Imagine how many people are suffering in third world countries with the same problems we have but don't have access to medicine. I would have gone crazy without medication. I take 1mg of ativan daily and 30MG of prozac..yes, I don't like it but I have to if I want to feel somewhat functional. Just relax and take it.
I have been on prozac for twenty years, have tried a few times to come off near April and then feel the need to go back on them around October. This time I have weaned myself off over seven weeks (taking one pill less each week) and I feel and am acting the same as I was before prozac. It has now been two weeks since my last pill and I am deliberating whether to start them again. I also feel that twenty years is too long to be dependant on a drug and would like to be 'normal' without it. I am thankful to prozac for saving my marriage and family life, but you say Alice it gets a hold of us.
I would like to know what has happened to my brain, has it been altered by 20 years on prozac? Will I sail through menopause, will I be less susceptible to Alzheimer's or vice versa?
My name is also Lesley. I know your post was a year ago so you may never see this. I am so sorry for the loss of your sister. I am 47 and going through a lot of the things she went through and have had suicidal thoughts. I am just now starting to feel better, but it took antidepressants, seeking out people to talk with and changing some things in my life. And it is still a work in progress. I used to think, before my depression got so bad, that it was something you could choose, that you could fight it off, shrug it off, but major depression is indeed an illness that you just can't fight off. I am lucky to be alive because I sure have had some dark moments where I thought it would be a good idea to just end my suffering. Again, I am so sorry for your loss, and sorry for people who do not understand.
Nigel, it is that simple when the depression is not major. I used to believe the same thing. When mine got really bad, major clinical depression, I learned that I could not fight it alone, no matter what. I have always been a positive person and thought people should be able to change their situations and choose to be happy. Unfortunately, I now know that doesn't work once it gets to a certain point.
I have tried to wean myself off of Prozac (been on for 8 years, 4 years Zoloft before that). I have to say I don't feel like it caused my depression at all. I vividly remember how I felt before I started it and why I started it. I will always need it because I have generalized anxiety disorder from my childhood and inherting it from family members. I don't blame it at all, I thank it. When I try to go off I realize why I started it. I don't feel stuck, I feel helped.
Dear Alice
I too have an unshakeable aversion to "being on drugs' of any kind on a daily basis. I would much rather depend on prayer, Jesus, faith, will power and a six pack of beer now and then.
Alas, my brain hits recycle and I am suddenly having foggy brain symptoms, road rage and screaming meanies that I can't control.
Just letting you know that you are not alone.
I deal with this issue as well as I can by considering the lesser of two evils: taking a prozac everyday, or being evil in every way.
Be at peace
Hi everyone,
I hope this thread is still active. I'm 37 years old and have been on Prozac since I was 17. I was dx'd with clinical depression as a teen and went through a few antidepressants until we decided Prozac was the best. I remember asking the psychiatrist how long I would be on the meds and he said, "Forever." So over the years I quit taking it, out of defiance, out of curiousity, out of stupidity. I'll go a week or so without it, then flip out over something minor and my husband will say "Are you taking your meds?" I hate the fact that I'm chained to it forever. I didn't take it in my first pregnancy and felt great but as soon as the baby came, post partum hit HARD, so I had to get back on immediately and ride out the crushing depression until the Prozac got through my system. With my second baby, I was crazy without it so the OB told me to start it again. He said it was worse for the baby to have me be miserable than to be taking Prozac. Unfortunately I still had post partum depression but it only lasted a couple days. I've come to believe that, because of the length of time that I (and all of us) have been taking Prozac, my body can't function without it. I've taken it for longer than I haven't taken it and my body thinks it's part of my natural make up. One day, when my kids are grown, I would like to wean from it and start going to a therapist so I can deal with my depression and get off the medicine. It has helped me greatly but I don't want to be tied to it. Plus what has it done to me physically?! Thanks for listening all!
I know this thread is old but when I read this comment I had to address it. This is an incorrect and extremely dangerous opinion. You cannot think away depression. If that worked for you, you weren't suffering from depression. Job related stress can cause all sorts of unwanted health effects but actual depression is not one of them. If what you're saying were true there would be no one with depression. Despite your implication, people with depression don't want to have depression. If we could wish it away we would. Please refrain from posting such dangerous misinformation in the future.
Hello Alice, I apologize for resurrecting this old topic but I was searching for an explanation as to why I can't get off prozac and I found this. I have struggled with mental illness for over 20 years but haven't always treated it properly. Before I got married and had a family I used alcohol. Not effective in the long run, of course. After trying several anti's that didn't work or had terrible side effects for me, prozac was a godsend. I've been on it now for about 3 years. I was under the impression that prozac and other anti's worked by changing the chemical composition of the brain and eventually eliminating the chemical imbalance that causes depression. (I've also been dx'd with OCD and GAD besides the Major Depression). For a while I had to take 60mg daily of prozac to keep my symptoms under control. Recently I was approved for medical cannabis and I found I was able to reduce my prozac to 40mg. After a year at that dose I decided I wanted to get off it completely. So I reduced to 20mg. Within a week I was a wreck. Angry, depressed, panic and anxiety attacks doubled. Increased cannabis use did nothing. So I'm back at 40mg again. I have a strong desire to be off it but obviously I can't. I am trying to find out why it hasn't changed the chemical imbalance in my brain but so far no explanations have been found. I don't have any answers for you, but I wanted you to know you're not the only one.
Hey,
So I am also going through the exact same situation.
But, I've been on this for only 3 years though.
I am still 23, I myself have gone through phases where I decided that taking medications everyday to feel "normal" is not really making me normal and have stopped taking it for weeks trying to be 'normal' again and it just became worse than ever, I start getting paranoid, my confidence levels goes completely, and I have the worst time of my life. These are times where I have starte to realise that I'll probably be on these for a long time.
At the same time, my parents keep presurising me to stop taking the medications and that it is not 'normal'. Trying to explain them how it gets when i am off the medications just angers them, and they start to think i am addicted to it.
But, after reading @Lesley998's post, it actually mad eme realise that I am actually lucky that I found something which is helping me get better. Suddenly taking 2 or 3 pills a day does not feel too bad. :P
I agree with you. I've lived with depression (undiaganosed at the time) for many years before I finally attempted suicide and as a result ended up at the pediatric section of the psych ward. Before I've decided to end my life, I've struggled for many years to "snap out" of depression, but to no avail. I am very glad I got the help I needed from my stay at the ward. I am on anti-depressants now and I go to therapy every week. It is helping me a lot. I agree with NigelW that removing the cause of depression helps, but it is also a long process for some people whose irritant is not easily removed. (Body image, self-esteem, family issues etc.)
Dear Alice 7, This story you wrote so well, I honestly, word for word could have written it myself!! I've joined this forum on the strength of it. I am today at that painstaking difficult juncture of, like you were? Of must I stop this distress of persisting to come off prozac Or shall I go to my Doctor to get some more to take for the rest of my life... ? All at a cost to me, I say begrudgingly, as I feel it should be the blasted doctor who put me on prozac back in1996 who should foot the bill. I was suffering terriblywith post natal depression that wouldn't go away and TOTALLY changed who I was. He should have done blood test enquiring about my hormones & nutrition & addressed those first ! HEAD ZAPS are what's making it impossible for me to come off it. Did you experience these debilitating symptoms at all alice 7? Have you gone back on Prozac now ? Do you take the Lilly brand ones? I am so at my wits end; I'm also 1.5 years in of cutting down my 20mg dosage & trying to come off it... My life is on hold as I'm forced to be in this tortured silent limbo space of ON AND OFF them; It's hell & unless you have experience head zaps? up to 10 /15 times a day can you understand where I'm coming from exactly. I've lost Myself, I function but there's no one home, I'm numb but I cry everyday and anything will tip me over the edge. I'm thinking what's the point of doing anythin, of living really & if I didn't have my 2 kids I really would top myself. Right now, today, I'm at the stage of, If I start taking it again everyday I get head zaps & if I come off it I get Head zaps . What I haven't tried to do to STOP these horrendous Zaps is to go back on it AGAIN daily at 20 mg a day and accept defeat..Hoping the zaps will eventually subside & I get my old coping HAPPY motivated self back again. It's a cruel defeat isn't it? I too am trapped, I too fear my doctor won't prescribe them to me for some reason & im living this hell for good! Lastly I'd like to mention I've been swoping 20mg Prozac for the natural derivative of 5HTP ( 5 HTP comes in 50 mg ) so I've been having half of this in place of HALF of the 20 mg prozac. 5 days 5HTP 2 days 10 mg prozac. Thanks for reading / listening. I need therapy that's for sure. Hope we can help one another.
Hi, I don't know if my advice helps but I have always been depressed looking back at my diaries from when I was 13. I am 34 now, male and it took countless therapists before I finally got a doctors opinion to confirm that I need to accept that I should be on medication for life. I have come off anti-depressants independently with no success in the past. I have overdosed, and tried hanging myself. It is dangerous, I have had cognitive behavioural therapy that helps in the sense of recognising when I am going to feel hopeless but it all comes down to chemical imbalance. Beta blockers may help to overcome anxiety. This enables my brain to relax, because if it gets too tired that's when deep depression sets in. An over worked mind leads to living in bed and in fear. This is advice from my doctor. Ive come to terms that it is simply a chemical imbalance and that I require something like fluoxetine/Prozac to stop it escaping so quickly. Forgive me if I'm being ignorant but if you have spent so long on anti-depressants you may think you are cured but unfortunately no amount of exercise, sleep and diet will alter your perhaps imbalanced mental state. Depression is a killer, and I became dependant on alcohol before Prozac started to work. I hate the stigma attached to depression and am trying my best to redress the issues surrounding it's taboo within society. If you have cancer or a heart condition you wouldn't stop taking it because you started to feel better. I don't like accepting that I have to take pills the rest of my life, I'm a control freak and have an ego but it's not worth stopping. You were put on it for a reason 20 years ago. Everytime I come off meds the same pattern emerges. I can't face life, lock myself away and have to to moods. Seek a doc to lessen your dosage and see how you fair. I hope that's okay? I'm a newbie coming into Prozac. Keep well
Hope I can help a little. I am a male, 34 and been on and off anti depressants for 14 years. The same pattern occurs. I start to feel okay then take myself off them. Not the answer. It's dangerous. I am not a doctor but have seen countless and also have had CBT. It won't alter your brain chemistry permanently, antis act as a serotonin re-uptake inhibitor meaning that they will kind of trap the feel good chemicals for a little while longer than someone like yourself usually experience through depression. I am on 20mg Prozac now long term and beta blockers called propranolol that calm the anxiety if you start to suffer those horrible panic adrenaline moments (which might be a suitable alternative to marijuana). Xanax used to knock me out but beta blockers are a more modern solution that stop anxiety for short periods or longer ones that I didn't know about until this year. It gives your brain a rest and allows something like a lower dose of Prozac to take its effect. Perhaps increase the dosage for now on the Prozac, stick to the 40mg but be honest with a good doctor. It took me so long to get diagnosed and rwalsie yes I will be on it for life. Cognitive behaviour therapy may help you, it depends if your depression was caused by a situation or if you are like me and biological my pre-disposed to the condition. All I can say is that I don't have any more suicidal thoughts and am eating better, exercising and enjoying life a little more. I hope that helped a bit. Always consult a doctor before changing your dose. I was downing alcohol privately and trying to end it. Stick to 40mg Nd book an appointment and perhaps suggest beta blockers. Wish you all the very best, thanks for your post.
I've just started a course of it and feel like I am gaining control of my life again off 20mg Prozac. When a doctor told me last year it's okay to be on it for life I felt relieved if anything. I was depressed as a kid but my mum and dad just put it as me being quiet and I did too. I'm eating better, talking socially more and not drinking booze to evade the anxiety thanks to Prozac. I've had cognitive behavioural therapy but it just comes down to chemical imbalance. You wouldn't expect someone in a wheelchair to start running after a course of medication. Making people aware and being honest will hopefully stop the stigma. Thanks for your post. I'm new to the forum and it's kind of cool I can share my experiences with others. All the best!
Hello all. I have several experiences regarding depression, and feel that the combination of them is quite unique. I hope that somehow, someone will benefit from what I have to say!
Over many years, I have suffered from depression, and have travelled the many paths available. I am feeling very well at the moment, and have ceased taking Fluoxetine. I have been certain of the last few years, that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, and feel that in my case, I have proved my theory correct! However, because it is ( probably) a chemical imbalance, the problem can not necessarily be rectified with "other" chemicals or talking therapies. One or the other, or even both, could be good for one person, but not for another. This would partially depend on its " strength" or root problem. I, for one, do not find Talking Therapies of any use, but have found the Fluoxetine useful, although I am not now taking them. As for the deeply depressed members of our society, the medication might not work, and they might not be in a position to remove the root cause, for example, work. So I feel that the treatment is case dependant, and in some cases goes further, by the sufferer committing suicide in order to escape the torment.
My Son in Law hanged himself some small number of years ago, and, as always is the case, nobody can really say why! We have our ideas, and at some stage he was on anti depressants, but no one will ever really know. In this case therapy and medication did not help, and quite obviously, he was unable to cope.
I have recently retired from the local Coroner's Court and Office where I worked as a volunteer. Because of my experiences, I felt that I could help members of families who had lost their relatives through suicide. Hearing the many cases of suicide, that passed through Court, it was obvious that the many facilities offered to these people, were not of help within their sad life. The reports and witness statements that were read out in court, showed that with all the help in the world, these people found it very difficult to battle through life.
In conclusion, I feel that with some people ( very few!) can "shrug it off," or at least temporarily, but for most, it is an impossible task. As with a physical birth defect, this type of patient cannot be " mended," but only temporarily 'repaired" giving the equivalent of a wheelchair, back support, walking stick or indeed, day to day help. They were born that way, and sadly their lives are different.
I hope that my "take" on depression supports everyone, no matter at what level they suffer their disability. Thank you for reading
Awesome answer. Depression IS an illness as real as diabetes, only more scary and disabling. I lost my oldest brother to depression as well, he took his own life at a young age. I have been on Prozac myself for over 20 years, which has allowed me to live a rather normal life with its drawbacks offcourse like low libido, a smal price to pay for sanity. If anyone thinks he/she can wish depression away, he/she still has not gone down to the dungeons of hell, and should thank God and his/her ancestors for it.
Just found this post and its 20
Just found this post. You are describing what i have been through. Been on prozac 20+ years. Did really well for a long time until my primary care dr said to come off it cause she thought it was raising my blood pressure. Ive tried for the past 4 years to come off prozac! These past few months after being hospitalized for pneumonia, have been a living hell. Anxiety through the roof, panic attacks daily, shaking, insomnia, lack of appetite, and fear of everything. Crying spells are nothing compared to the anxiety that i have felt. Almost felt like having seizures too. Finally got a referral to go talk with a psychiatrist which i did earlier this month. Back on 20mg daily prozac brand name, along with buspar 5mg twice daily, hydroxyzine at night to sleep. Today is day 18 on prozac. I am still shaky and weak and fearful, but hopeful that i will get better. I know i have a chemical imbalance and that prozac has helped me before, but i too wish i didnt have to take any medicine. That i could just handle everything....normally. its been a struggle to accept my diagnosis, but its easier to live in the solution than fight the problem.
Hi, alice7,
I just read your post from 5 years ago while looking up information on depression for my youngest sister. I hope you will get this and know that your post helped me more than you'll ever know. I couldn't have described my own experience if I tried. Reading your post validated my feelings and for that, I am extremely grateful. It has been 26 years since I first began taking Prozac and, it would probably not be an exaggeration to say, that it has saved my life; but, like you, I have disliked the idea of being dependent on a pill to feel normal and have tried multiple times, unsuccessfully, to go off it. Having recently retired, I am ready to try to again, hoping that the elimination of the work stress will tip the scale in favor of my being successful once and for all. Unlike my other attempts which were done on my own, I plan to follow a very gradual weaning schedule under the guidance of my GP. I am curious if, since your original post of 5 years ago, you have tried again to go off Prozac and whether or not you felt you were finally successful. Any comments, thoughts or advice from anyone with similar experiences who reads this post
would be appreciated.